Year: 2016
Genre:
Sports Movie
Directed:
Ben Younger
Stars: Miles
Teller, Aaron Eckhart, Ciaran Hinds, Katey Sagal, Ted Levine, Amanda Clayton,
Jordan Gelber, Daniel Sauli, Christine Evangelista, Tina Casciani
Production:
Open Road Films
2016 may
just be the year of the dueling mediocre boxing bios. Earlier this year Hands
of Stone (2016), the Roberto Duran story, slumped in and out of the box office
like a welter weight’s sparring partner. Now it seems Bleed for This, a
biography of Vinny Pazienza is about to do the same.
To be fair,
this story does have a tasty little twist. In the weeks after bouncing back
from a losing streak, Providence’s local champion Vinny Pazienza (Teller)
becomes a victim of a car accident that nearly ruins his career. The accident
leaves his neck broken and spine nearly severed, requiring him to wear a steel
halo for six months. Nearly everyone including his family, managers and coach
tell him he’s done for. Yet Vinny feels with the right combination of determination,
grit and moral support, he can have another chance in the ring.
Gee, I wonder who helped promote this movie... |
For all the
positive messages that can be gleamed from this film, the failures of Bleed for
This is encrusted right there in its DNA. The film starts by straining to make
its hero likable going so far as to downplay or ignore any possible faults. He
doesn’t drink, doesn’t lose his temper, doesn’t buckle under pressure, never
gives up and only sees the best in people. Thirty minutes into the movie the
only flaw Vinny seems to have is he stays up past his bedtime and splits his
tens in blackjack.
The problem
with a character so determined is there’s absolutely no risk. The character arc
(if you can say there is one) is calcified; the audiences never surprised nor
worried for our beleaguered hero. The unthinkable happens and Vinny’s
prescription isn’t anything new just a concentrated dose of the exact same
stick-to-itiveness that made him great in the first place.
Miles Teller
for all his charisma can’t help but exude smugness as our demigod protagonist. “The
scariest thing about giving up is it’s easy,” he says, with the authority of a
bumper sticker. Indeed, nearly everything he says apes your average Tony
Robbins symposium. Yet none of it is for his family, his friends or his coach
Kevin (Eckhart) who is in sore need of a “coming to God” moment. Nope, it’s all
for him to keep himself motivated and doing what he claims is easy.
For his
work, Eckhart is completely unrecognizable in this film. Gone is the Grecian bod
of your girlfriend’s hot dad – replaced instead with a receding hairline, a
beer belly and a thick New England accent. Without really trying to Eckhart
vastly improves nearly every scene he’s in and once he’s introduced, every time
he’s not on screen there’s an Eckhart shaped hole in the firmament. Call this
performance a dark horse contender for Best Supporting Actor, which could’ve
gathered momentum if all of Kevin’s redemption scenes weren’t so obviously left
on the cutting room floor.
As it
stands, Bleed for This is an effective motivational poster but not a very good
movie. There’s little to root for and little tension other than the climactic
bout between Pazianza and Duran. Yet even then, the film leans a bit too much
on tired boxing film cliches to be memorable and doesn’t have the
dimensionality of Hands of Stone to keep the audience riveted.
Final Grade:
C-
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